SF 2643

Introduction - 94th Legislature (2025 - 2026)

Posted on 03/18/2025 10:02 a.m.

A bill for an act
relating to motor vehicles; modifying accident report requirements; authorizing
local law enforcement to provide certain data to contracted service providers for
purposes of accident reporting; amending Minnesota Statutes 2024, sections
169.011, by adding a subdivision; 169.09, subdivisions 8, 13.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 169.011, is amended by adding a subdivision
to read:

new text begin Subd. 18a. new text end

new text begin Contracted service provider. new text end

new text begin "Contracted service provider" means a
contracted entity authorized by a governmental agency to provide services that support or
enable the permissible generation, collection, management, and dissemination of crash
reports or data under the requirements of this chapter.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2025.
new text end

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 169.09, subdivision 8, is amended to read:

Subd. 8.

Officer to report accident to commissioner.

(a) A peace officer who
investigates in the regular course of duty an accident that is required to be reported under
this section must submit an electronic or written report of the accident to the commissioner
of public safety within ten days after the date of the accident new text begin and may retain a local copy new text end .
Within two business days after identification of a fatality that resulted from an accident, the
reporting agency must notify the commissioner of the basic circumstances of the accident.
A report or notification under this subdivision must be in the format as prescribed in
subdivision 9.

(b) Accidents on streets, highways, roadways, sidewalks, shoulders, shared use paths,
or any other portion of a public right-of-way must be reported under the requirements of
this section if the accident results in:

(1) a fatality;

(2) bodily injury to a person who, because of the injury, immediately receives medical
treatment away from or at the scene of the accident;

(3) one or more of the motor vehicles incurring disabling damage that requires a vehicle
to be transported away from the scene of the accident by tow truck or other vehicle; or

(4) damage to fixtures, infrastructure, or any other property alongside or on a highway.

(c) An accident involving a school bus, as defined in section 169.011, subdivision 71,
must be reported under the requirements of this section and section 169.4511.

(d) An accident involving a commercial motor vehicle, as defined in section 169.781,
subdivision 1, paragraph (a), must be reported under the requirements of this section and
section 169.783.

(e) Accidents occurring on public lands or trail systems that result in the circumstances
specified in paragraph (b) must be reported under the requirements of this section.

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2025, for reports submitted on
or after that date.
new text end

Sec. 3.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 169.09, subdivision 13, is amended to read:

Subd. 13.

Reports confidential; evidence, fee, penalty, appropriation.

(a) All reports
and supplemental information required under this section must be for the use of the
commissioner of public safety and other appropriate state, federal, county, and municipal
governmental agencies for accident analysis new text begin or law enforcement investigatory new text end purposes,
except:

(1) upon written request, the commissioner of public safety, a full-service provider as
defined in section 171.01, subdivision 33a, or any law enforcement agency new text begin or a law
enforcement agency's contracted service provider new text end must disclose the report required under
subdivision 8 to:

(i) any individual involved in the accident, the representative of the individual's estate,
or the surviving spouse, or one or more surviving next of kin, or a trustee appointed under
section 573.02;

(ii) any other person injured in person, property, or means of support, or who incurs
other pecuniary loss by virtue of the accident;

(iii) legal counsel of a person described in item (i) or (ii);

(iv) a representative of the insurer of any person described in item (i) or (ii); or

(v) a city or county attorney or an attorney representing the state in an implied consent
action who is charged with the prosecution of a traffic or criminal offense that is the result
of a traffic crash investigation conducted by law enforcement;

(2) the commissioner of public safety may verify with insurance companies vehicle
insurance information to enforce sections 65B.48, 169.792, 169.793, 169.796, and 169.797;

(3) the commissioner of public safety must provide the commissioner of transportation
the information obtained for each traffic accident involving a commercial motor vehicle,
for purposes of administering commercial vehicle safety regulations;

(4) upon specific request, the commissioner of public safety must provide the
commissioner of transportation the information obtained regarding each traffic accident
involving damage to identified state-owned infrastructure, for purposes of debt collection
under section 161.20, subdivision 4; and

(5) the commissioner of public safety may give to the United States Department of
Transportation commercial vehicle accident information in connection with federal grant
programs relating to safety.

(b) Accident reports and data contained in the reports are not discoverable under any
provision of law or rule of court. A report must not be used as evidence in any trial, civil
or criminal, or any action for damages or criminal proceedings arising out of an accident.
However, the commissioner of public safety must furnish, upon the demand of any person
who has or claims to have made a report or upon demand of any court, a certificate showing
that a specified accident report has or has not been made to the commissioner solely to prove
compliance or failure to comply with the requirements that the report be made to the
commissioner.

(c) Nothing in this subdivision prevents any individual who has made a report under
this section from providing information to any individuals involved in an accident or their
representatives or from testifying in any trial, civil or criminal, arising out of an accident,
as to facts within the individual's knowledge. It is intended by this subdivision to render
privileged the reports required, but it is not intended to prohibit proof of the facts to which
the reports relate.

(d) Disclosing any information contained in any accident report, except as provided in
this subdivision, section 13.82, subdivision 3 or 6, or other statutes, is a misdemeanor.

(e) The commissioner of public safety or full-service provider as defined in section
171.01, subdivision 33a, must charge authorized persons as described in paragraph (a) a $5
fee for a copy of an accident report. Of the $5 fee collected by the commissioner under this
paragraph, 90 percent must be deposited in the driver and vehicle services operating account
under section 299A.705 and ten percent must be deposited in the general fund. Of the $5
fee collected by a full-service provider, the provider must transmit 50 cents to the
commissioner for deposit in the general fund, and the provider must retain the remainder.
The commissioner may also furnish an electronic copy of the database of accident records,
which must not contain personal or private data on an individual, to private agencies as
provided in paragraph (g), for not less than the cost of preparing the copies on a bulk basis
as provided in section 13.03, subdivision 3.

(f) The fees specified in paragraph (e) notwithstanding, the commissioner and law
enforcement agencies must charge commercial users who request access to response or
incident data relating to accidents a fee not to exceed 50 cents per record. "Commercial
user" is a user who in one location requests access to data in more than five accident reports
per month, unless the user establishes that access is not for a commercial purpose. Of the
money collected by the commissioner under this paragraph, 90 percent must be deposited
in the driver and vehicle services operating account under section 299A.705 and ten percent
must be deposited in the general fund.

(g) The fees in paragraphs (e) and (f) notwithstanding, the commissioner must provide
an electronic copy of the accident records database to the public on a case-by-case basis
using the cost-recovery charges provided for under section 13.03, subdivision 3. The database
provided must not contain personal or private data on an individual. However, unless the
accident records database includes the vehicle identification number, the commissioner
must include the vehicle registration plate number if a private agency certifies and agrees
that the agency:

(1) is in the business of collecting accident and damage information on vehicles;

(2) will use the vehicle registration plate number only for identifying vehicles that have
been involved in accidents or damaged, to provide this information to persons seeking access
to a vehicle's history and not for identifying individuals or for any other purpose; and

(3) will be subject to the penalties and remedies under sections 13.08 and 13.09.

new text begin (h) A reporting agency that retains reports locally under subdivision 8 may provide
nonpersonal data contained in an accident report to a contracted service provider subject to
the limitations of paragraph (g), clauses (1) to (3).
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2025, for reports submitted on
or after that date.
new text end